Improved fire-alarm



J. R. TUNNICLIFF.

Fire Alarm.

Patented April 22, 1862.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. TUNNICLIFF, OF VAN HORNESVILLE, NEYV YORK.

IMPROVED FIRE-ALARM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,050, dated April 22,1862.

T0 aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN R. TUNNICLIFF, of Van Hornesville, in thecounty of llerkimer and State of New York, have invented a new andImproved l ire-Alarm; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich-- Figure 1 represents a vertical central sec tion of my invention.li ig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same.

Similar letters of reference in. both views indicate correspondingparts.

To enable those skilled in. the art to fully understand and use myinvent-hm, I will proceed to describe its construction. and operationwith reference to the drawin The barrel A, which, for the sake ofconvenience, may be surrounded by a case, B, of brass or any othersuitable material, is furnished with a socket, u, on its bottom, andinto this socket the match I) is inserted. This match may be made ofwood or any other suitable material, and a small channel, 0, passingthrough the entire length of the match and through the bottom or breechof the barrel, serves as the touch-hole. The end or nozzle of the matchI) is dipped into some composition which will ignite at a certain fixedtemperature.

The case B is provided with a socket, (l, to fit into the end of a hook,e, that screws into the wall of a room or house; or the whole device maybe put up by other suitable means in the room or house in which it isintended to be used, care being taken to place it out of the reach ofchildren or other persons that otherwise might be tempted to meddle withit. The match may be further protect-ed by a wire screen fitting on thecase B A small charge of gunpowder is put into the barrel, the channel 0having been charged with fine powder or fuse, which will readily ignite,and the device is left undisturbed in its position. If a fire shouldoccur in the room or place where the alarm located, the temperature willspeedily rise, causing the match to ignite and explode the charge of thebarrel. By the report the attention of the inmates of the house or of aneighboring room is called to the fact that a fire is in progress, andsteps can be taken to extinguish the same before it is too late.

This fire-alarm is very cheap, it can be manufactured at a triflingexpense, it can be put upentirely out of the way, and its action iscertain, so that it will never fail to explode whenever by some causethe temperature of the surrounding atmosphere rises beyond a certainpoint.

I am aware that a fire-alarm has been suggested in which a gun-barrelcharged with powder and having a weighted hammer, 820., were soconnected with strings running through the house that when those stringswere burnedthe weight would fall and explode the powder. I claim nothingof this kind; but,

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure byLet-ters Pate11t- As an improved article of manufacture, afire-alarm composed of a barrel, A, and quick match b,combined andoperating substantially as herein shown. and described.

JOHN R. TUNNICLIFF.

Witnesses: Q

MILTON COUNTRYMAN, 'DANIEL VAN HORNE.

